National education policy 2009 – a critique

How good the proposed NEP really is?
Islamabad, Sep 24: The announcement of the National Education Policy, 2009, was supposed
to be the starting point for a nationwide debate on much needed
systemic educational reforms. Yet apart from the odd cursory analysis
or two, it seems as if educationalists, academics, politicians and the
media are largely uninterested in the contents of the document. The
silence of this group is puzzling and criminal in itself, but the
larger and more important question is how good the proposed NEP really
is. And what better way to judge the national educators and
policymakers that authored the document than by marking them out of
ten.

Marks are assigned to the following critical areas as
follows: correctly identifying the problems (two marks), proposing
meaningful solutions (two marks), proper implementation strategies and
assigning responsibilities (two marks) and independent feedback
mechanisms for reporting on progress and quality of reforms (two
marks). One mark is for general neatness, grammar and organisation of
the report and one mark I reserve for myself - to give as I please - as
the privilege of being the examiner.

The NEP puts the right foot
forward by recognising the two major weaknesses in the current system
1) low access and quality of education and 2) dearth and
misappropriation of funds. It then clearly identifies the class
barriers that a tripartite (public, A/O level, madrasa) system creates
and expresses the desire to move away from the status quo by reviving
confidence in public-sector education. It accepts that it is the
failure of the state to provide quality public education for all that
has resulted in the mushrooming of private institutions and madrasas,
which by-and-large are free from any sorts of checks and balances. It
accepts that the national curriculum is in dire need of reform and
understands the need for greater provincial autonomy when it comes to
administration. It also understands that lack of proper training and
pay-scales correlates directly to a reduction in the quality of
education. One point where the report is notably silent is on the
inclusion of minorities with respect to curriculum subjects. However,
all in all, a comprehensive analysis and an excellent start, two marks
out of two.

The most visible and perhaps the only solution worth
celebrating provided in the report is decision to increase educational
spending to 7 percent of the GDP by the year 2015. However, the fact
that the same government reduced the educational funding allocation
from 2.4 percent to 2.1 percent (actual amount spent was 1.7 percent)
last year creates serious doubts over it's commitment to prioritise
educational spending. The noncommittal attitude of the current
government with regards to its statements and policies also lend weight
to the argument that the projected figures are merely for political
posturing and are unrealistic at the very least.

While the
previous section clearly identified the pitfalls of a tripartite
educational system, the policies put forward do very little to rectify
the situation. Partnerships between private and public institutions are
proposed while madrasa reforms are hinted at. Details of any sort
regarding how and when these objectives will be achieved are absent.

Additionally,
the policy sets itself a few notable milestones-i.e., provision of free
primary education by 2015, provision of free education up to metric by
2025, increase in adult literacy rates to 86 percent by 2015, increase
in higher education enrolment from 4.7 percent to 10 percent in 2015
and 15 percent in 2020. What is most worrying about all these
milestones is that they seemed to have been plucked out of thin air,
with no data provided to show any projections that might have been
carried out. In the absence of any such projections, these numbers seem
to be more of a wish-list than the result of any careful planning and
deliberation.

This wish-list attitude has been notably present
in all previous educational policy documents that successive military
and civilian governments have come up with. It's also notable that all
such policies spread themselves too thin over what they hope to achieve
rather than certain key areas to focus on. The NEP is no different in
this regard, and for that reason, the recommendations and milestones it
proposes seem highly unrealistic and just for political gain. Hence,
for the reasons of not providing any visionary leadership, failing to
ground projections on reality and strong allegations of doublespeak, I
am compelled to give the solutions section a poor 0.5 out of 2.

After
the particularly disappointing solutions section, the implementation
plan needs to be clear, concise and to the point. It does exactly that
when it proudly states "The NEP thus outlines what is to be done. The
NEP does not deal with who will do what, how will something be done and
when is something done." 0 marks out of 2.

To report on the
nonexistent implementation framework, the NEP proposes the setting up
of a national forum-i.e., the inter-provincial education ministers
(IPEM). Under this framework, the IPEM will serve as both the judge and
the executioner in that it is both responsible for creating an
implementation roadmap as well as gathering data to see how well the
implementation is being carried out. Those familiar with public policy
and development work will know that policymaking and research bodies
are kept separate and independent from each other so that their
conclusions can be considered to be unbiased. On a brighter note this
section talks of implementing both 1) greater provincial autonomy and
2) greater interaction between policy monitoring bodies such as the
Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the National Vocation and
Technical Education Commission (NAVTEC), though again details regarding
how these goals will be achieved are notably absent. Therefore for
getting the very basics of policy monitoring wrong, this section gets
graded 0.5 out of 2.

On the general neatness, grammar and
organisation front, this report gets a 0.5 out of 1. Half-a-mark has
been docked for it being very repetitive between sections and in places
referring to itself as NEP 2008.

It's clearly apparent that NEP
2009 is not the solution to the myriad of problems plaguing our
educational system. The situation is extremely grim, given that work on
the NEP was started as way back as 2005 and that it serves as an
educational policy document for the next 10 years of our nation.
Furthermore there is the highly contentious fourth chapter of Islamic
education. Including such a section into the national policy document
is clearly a political move. In doing so it risks further alienating
the religious minorities which are already under significant pressures
following recent attacks and events. The chairman of the Pakistan
Minorities Teachers Association (PMTA) has already condemned the
policy, calling it discriminatory towards non-Muslims. Educationalists
also hold the opinion that this education policy, like all others
before it, violates the article guaranteeing religious freedom in the
Constitution when it makes Islamiyat a compulsory subject from grade 1
to 12.

It is clear from the scorecard that the NEP is merely an
elaborate exercise in political posturing and offers very little in
terms of meaningful reform. And while the responsibility for this lack
of vision and determination falls largely on the shoulders of the
current government, the silent members must also be taken to task;
educators and policymakers for their inability to create a national
debate on the subject, political parties for being uninterested in
taking ownership in the educational arena, the media for showing more
interest in the conspiracies of ex-generals than in education,
so-called secular parties for not protesting over the Islamic education
chapter and all of us for our general disinterest in the genuine
problems that face our nation and the possible solutions that might
help put us on the long road back.

As those that are keeping
count will notice, I haven't allocated my final mark yet. That's
because it hardly matters. At the current score of 3/9, even my
deciding editorial vote is not enough to help NEP 2009 reach the
minimum 50-percent massing mark. -Naveed Ejaz

The writer is a doctoral
student at Imperial College, London. Email:ejaz.naveed@googlemail.com

Youth activity centres to be set up in districts
Islamabad: Ministry of Youth Affairs has launched a pilot project
for creating hundred Youth Activity Centres in the districts.

The
ministry is awaiting the approval of the Planning Commission to go
ahead with the project, Minister for Youth Affairs Shahid Hussain
Bhutto said.

The ministry would coordinate
with the district administrations to acquire buildings, which are not
in use, to set up the activity centres. The availability of the
buildings would save precious government money, the minister said.
Shahid Bhutto said the teams would visit the provincial metropolises to
gather information about spare buildings, which would then be furnished.

The
aim of the project is to cater to the needs of the youth in remote
areas, as they lack facilities to groom themselves. At these centres,
youth would get opportunities to learn, polish their skills and get
computer know how. This would be a way to create a talented youth pool,
which would be prepared to serve the country instead of indulging in
wasteful activities of no consequence, the minister said.

The
government is committed to prepare the youth for the challenges of the
future. Harnessing the potential of the youth would certainly put the
country on new levels of progress and prosperity, he noted.

A
gym and a library would be part of the activity centres for the youth
to go there and fulfil their physical and mental needs, and develop a
healthy personality. Local communities would be involved to run these
centres.

The minister said that being in line with the
government's policy of giving preferential treatment to the people of
affected areas of NWFP, the Youth Ministry would give priority to the
youth of Malakand Division in its National Internship Programme (NIP).

The
ministry is working to give internships to 30,000 new graduates in the
programme's second phase on which Rs3.6 billion would be spent. The
youth of Malakand Division faced a very difficult period, so the
ministry would help them through NIP, so that they could share the
financial obligations of their families, the minister said. The news

HEC training programme for newsmen soon
Gujrat: The federal government has planned a training
programme for journalists in collaboration with the Higher Education
Commission to cater to the needs of the growing media industry and
overcome the problems being faced by media persons working in conflict
zones.

The minister said though the Pakistani media industry, especially the
electronic media, flourished in the last five years, it was facing a
number of problems because of unavailability of the trained staff in
the market. He said the Information Ministry had yet to prepare itself
for the emerging challenges. He said the ministry had been designed to
work with the print media years ago when the government had enough time
to respond to media reports, but the need for its overhaul was felt
badly after a boom in the media industry. He said the government was
facing problems in coping with the media challenges because of a lack
of modern equipment.

Kaira said the training programme for
journalists was likely to be started in November and that a three-month
certificate course had been designed in collaboration with HEC. He said
that media organisations would be engaged in the training programme. He
said the course would be started initially from Islamabad and later it
would be introduced in capital cities of all four provinces
simultaneously.

Responding to a question about establishment
of a media university, the minister said the project director for the
university had been appointed and the government was trying to initiate
the project at the earliest. Dawn

Students must rise above linguistic differences
Gujrat: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira has urged the
students to rise above linguistic, religious, political and sectarian
differences for the development of the country. He was addressing university
students from Lala Musa during an Eid Milan Party held under the auspices of
Organization for Students Assistance (OSAL) in Lala Musa on Wednesday.

Kaira said that the country
needs skilled youth, who could help the country become at par with the
technologically advanced countries.He gave away shields among the
students on their excellent academic performance on the occasion.Qamar Zaman Kaira exhorted the
students to join OSAL in the colleges and universities. APP